Abstract

SANCHEZ-PEREZ, Blanca Rebeca; CASTILLO-ACOSTA, Ofelia  and  CAMARA-CABRALES, Luisa del Carmen. Natural regeneration of high evergreen forest in Agua Blanca state park, Macuspana, Tabasco, Mexico. Polibotánica [online]. 2011, n.32, pp.63-88. ISSN 1405-2768.

The tropical rainforest is one of the best developed and most complex ecosystems, yet is undergoing very rapid deterioration. The alternative course of recovering it requires knowledge of the process of regeneration. The objective of this research was to evaluate the process of natural regeneration in a high evergreen forest relict in Agua Blanca State Park, Macuspana, Tabasco, as well as to learn the floristic composition, measure species diversity and floristic similarity, and analyze physical factors (litter depth, litter cover, crown cover, soil moisture, and pH). Two sampling units of 50 X 50 m were established, each divided into 25 subunits of 10 X 10 m, in which four plots of 1 X 1 m were subsequently set up at random. To conduct the regeneration study, all individuals ≤1.30 m and ≥ 1.30 m were censused and their life-form determined. Measurements of physical factors were carried out in each 1 X 1 m plot. A total of 152 seedlings representing 46 species and 20 families are reported. Rinorea guatemalensis was the species with the highest number of seedlings. The index of diversity was H' = 3.7 in sampling unit 1 and H' = 3.0 for unit 2. Floristic similarity was 27%. There was no correlation between the number of individuals and number of species for each of the factors analyzed. We conclude that the high evergreen forest relict is in the process of regeneration as the species of tree seedlings reported are characteristic of a primary forest.

Keywords : Agua Blanca; physical factors; regeneration; seedlings.

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